Medical apps specialist announces £1m of new funding
A Cheshire health app evaluation and advisor has received £1m investment from Maven Capital Partners.
The Maven VCTs is providing the funding for ORCHA (Organisation for the Review and Care of Health Applications) which was founded in 2015 and is based in Sci-Tech Daresbury.
It is a global leader in assessing and distributing digital health, enabling private, local, and national health systems to adopt digital solutions, supporting healthcare professionals to prescribe digital health apps to patients.
The company’s products are used in 12 countries, including the UK, Canada and parts of Europe. Customers include Public Health England, MHRA, NHS Digital, Mental Health Commission of Canada, and the American Telemedicine Association.
Over the past two years the digital health sector has seen exponential growth. However, healthcare professionals need to ensure that any new solutions adopted are safe, accredited and compliant.
ORCHA’s innovative technology reviews and certifies digital health technology – its digital health libraries now hold more than 9,000 assessed products for health and care professionals to electronically prescribe to their patients.
The business is growing quickly with annual recurring revenue increasing by 300% over the past 12 months.
Maven’s investment will help to support ORCHA’s expansion into new and existing markets, including developing a US operation and increasing its footprint in Europe. The funding will also enable the business to further invest in its core technology, and double headcount to 150 employees by spring 2023.
The business is led by CEO Liz Ashall-Payne, a former NHS speech therapist, who recently won the Entrepreneur of the Year award at the Women in IT awards series.
Dean Cox, investment director at Maven, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Liz and her experienced management team to fulfil ORCHA’s exciting growth ambitions.
“The business has created a truly unique platform that has both the potential to be a market defining offering and also improve the lives of millions of patients, globally, that are currently under-serviced by digital health.”
He added: “Coupled with strong market tailwinds, we believe ORCHA is well placed to capitalise on the heightened demand from national and local healthcare providers, both in the public and private sectors, for accreditation and assurance in digital health.”
Liz Ashall-Payne said: “The market is growing exponentially, and with Maven’s help, we are better placed to ensure people access only safe and effective products that will improve health systems and change lives.”
